¿Dónde está el fantástico y hermoso Martin Frank?

heh... the computers have now proclaimed Kansas State to be the best team in all the land. (K-State is now #1 in the RPI with the #2 strength of schedule after Duke's game vs gardner-webb dropped their strength of schedule). Enjoy it while you can.

Don't look now, but front page of ESPN's Men's Basketball.....

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

KSU's Martin more than just a recruiter
With its highest ranking since 1988, K-State returns to relevance under Frank Martin
By Dana O'Neil
ESPN.com


Michael Beasley was coming.

Bill Walker was already there.

And Bob Huggins was leaving after only one season at the helm.

Hanging in the balance sat Kansas State, a once-proud basketball program that was about to be reignited or returned to a hoops wasteland.

[+] Enlarge
Peter Aiken/Getty Images
Martin persuaded Michael Beasley to sign with KSU, where he fashioned a memorable freshman season.
To Tim Weiser, the decision wasn't complicated.

He hired Frank Martin, Huggins' assistant.

"If it was just about one player, it would have been a shortsighted position on our part," said Weiser, then the KSU athletic director and now the deputy commissioner of the Big 12. "At the time, most of us weren't thinking Mike would be part of our program for the long term anyway. We had just had the turnover with Bob and so the decision was, Do we want to start yet again with a new philosophy and a new approach? And we balanced that out with the option of Frank, someone who was of the same philosophy, same coaching style.

"To us, it was a logical decision to maintain stability, not for one player but for the program."

But logic got run over by a freight train.

Critics chastised Weiser and Kansas State for the decision to hire a man who had never been a head coach above the high school level -- and feasted on Martin, labeling him nothing shy of a Beasley baby-sitter who would quickly be exposed as overmatched by the job he'd been handed.

"We knew what people were saying," associate head coach Dalonte Hill said. "And we knew there was only one thing we could do: prove them wrong."

Beasley and Walker are long gone, yet Kansas State is better than it's ever been. Martin didn't cobble together a flash-in-the-pan team; he has built a program.

The Wildcats are 52-25 under his watch, with an NCAA tournament and an NIT berth to their credit. This season, they sit ready to strike as the ultimate sleeper in a loaded Big 12. Kansas State is 9-1 and, after humbling previously undefeated UNLV in Las Vegas, pulls into the Associated Press Top 25 at No. 17, its highest ranking since 1988 (KSU is No. 22 in the ESPN/USA Today poll).

In just the past three games, the Wildcats have beaten Washington State, Xavier and UNLV, all by at least 15 points. The season also includes a win over Atlantic 10 favorite Dayton.

So no one would blame Martin if he wanted to take a minute and gloat, to thumb his nose at the detractors and enjoy his moment in the sun.

It is not in his DNA, though. As the son of Cuban immigrants, he's used to doubters and overcoming odds. And as a Huggins protégé, he's schooled in the art of growing thick skin.

What Martin will admit to, however, is that he was stung by the vitriol.

"I'm human," he said. "Most guys that get an opportunity, whether people agree with the hire or not, they're given a grace period. I was never given a grace period. One person called my hiring a disgrace to college basketball. That was really disheartening. I don't think I've ever seen so many members of the media put down somebody getting an opportunity like I got put down."

Weiser thinks the ire directed at Martin was in part misplaced anger directed at Huggins -- that the combination of Huggins' departure and Martin's hiring put the latter on the hottest seat in the country.

Just a year before, Weiser had made another controversial hire, giving the penitent Huggins a second chance after things unraveled at Cincinnati. Huggins, with Martin's and Hill's help, promptly persuaded Beasley and Walker to come to Manhattan, igniting a program that long had lain dormant on the college basketball landscape.

“
One person called my hiring a disgrace to college basketball. That was really disheartening. I don't think I've ever seen so many members of the media put down somebody getting an opportunity like I got put down.
”
-- Kansas State coach Frank Martin
Weiser knew how much that meant. A native of Kansas, he remembered when K-State mattered in college basketball and knew what it could be again.

So when Huggins about-faced and went to his alma mater, accepting the head-coaching job at West Virginia before Beasley and friends could even relocate, Kansas State fans were stung, Huggins was back in the crossfire and K-State was at a critical crossroads.

"K-State had been known for its basketball, but when I got here, it had been down for quite a while," Weiser said. "The hope at the time was to get the program back to where it once was."

Walker, who enrolled a semester early, made his position clear in no uncertain terms.

"I told them that in order for me to stay, they have to hire someone's who's been here. I'm pretty sure they heard me and they took that into account when they were talking to Frank," Walker said at the time.

Meanwhile, Beasley's mother, Fatima, affirmed her son's decision to become a Wildcat but the player himself was noticeably silent.

The dirty little secret college purists don't want to talk about is that college basketball is a business, a multimillion-dollar business in which people are fired for not winning. Often, the reason they don't win is simple: They don't have the players.

And the thing about those players? They generally don't come for the pretty architecture or the impressive student center. They come for the coach, for the comfort and trust they feel with him or the faith that his style and philosophy will best suit their needs.

"The reality of the deal is, if those guys didn't stay in place, the program was never going to ascend the way it has ascended," Huggins said. "With somebody new, the recruiting class falls apart. You've got your third coach in three years. Keeping Frank, keeping that staff was the right thing to do."

In retrospect, Weiser's decision has been borne out time and again. Tom Crean is still rebuilding the Hoosiers rubble left after Kelvin Sampson's recruits abandoned Indiana and scattered across the country; Josh Pastner is down to eight players after Memphis' incoming class opted to follow John Calipari to Kentucky; Sean Miller spent most of his first few days in Arizona trying to persuade people to stay after Lute Olson left.

[+] Enlarge
Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images
Aided by Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen, the Cats are off to a 9-1 start in Martin's third season.
What makes Martin's hire legitimate now is not what he did when he had Beasley and Walker but what he has done since.

The former AAU coach has capitalized on his ties and long-standing relationships to bring a steady stream of talent to the middle of the Kansas plains. Calling on his home base of Miami, Martin got University of Miami transfer Denis Clemente to come to K-State. And with Hill, a former AAU coach in D.C., leading the charge, McDonald's All-American Wally Judge is following Beasley's path. Mix in Jamar Samuels (another D.C. recruit), UConn transfer Curtis Kelly and explosive scorer Jacob Pullen, and you have the makings of a dangerous team.

"We've been talking to these kids for years, and we've known their coaches even longer," Hill said. "It's not like we picked up the phone one day and started recruiting. People feel comfortable with us because they know us. We were one of them."

As K-State rounds the corner for what promises to be a brutal Big 12 season, Martin is taking stock of his team. Are his players ready for what awaits them? He's not sure. Last season, the Wildcats were counted out after dropping their first four league games. They rode the lack of respect to a 22-12 finish and an NIT berth.

This season, they're the new darling, and Martin is curious to see how they handle it.

This much he does know: The Wildcats have gotten better every season. The graduation rate, once the worst in the Big 12, is now best in the league. His players are an extension of him, playing with the same fierce intensity he hurls at them every day in practice.

And no one is vilifying him anymore.

"I know the opinion was I was hired because I could recruit Mike Beasley," Martin said. "Well, if you can't go recruit Mike Beasley and Jacob Pullen and Bill Walker, you don't deserve to be a head coach at this level.

"With all that said, we were trying to build a culture here from the day I got here. We weren't taking chances on kids who didn't want to be part of our long-term plans. We weren't going to take shortcuts. This was never about winning for one or two years."

The man many thought was hired to salvage a season has instead built a program.

Uh....badass.

http://a.espnradio.com/deportes/entr...tateParteI.mp3
http://a.espnradio.com/deportes/entr...ateParteII.mp3

About F ucking time
 

http://uponfurtherreview.kansascity.com/?q=node/1723

Sorry, Frank

There it is. An apology. In a bizarre world in which Frank Martin actually reads this blog and cares what it said, hopefully we're cool now.

Because, man, most of us really thought he was a dope, right?

He was a high school coach, and a reportedly shady one at that. He wore his suits too big, his hair too slick, and his players too hard.

K-State hired him in some sad desperation after Bob Huggins left, like a Harrah's degenerate doubling down with his rent money. They kept him to keep Michael Beasley*, to keep Bill Walker, to keep some relevance in the wild world of college basketball -- a world that's stacked against Kansas State in the first place.

* Speaking of Beasley, good to see him playing so well in his second NBA season, particularly after the troubles over the summer.

Once Beasley left, K-State would be exposed as a sorry program and Martin as a high-profile babysitter who would be fired and then disappear into the AAU circuit.

At least, that was the script. Except here he is anyway, head coach of the 9-1 Wildcats -- No. 17 in the polls and No. 1 in RPI -- with a beautifully put together roster of strong and experienced guards with an athletic frontline that's navigated through a tough schedule and looks every bit like the third-best team in a strong Big 12.

They've blown out Xavier, Washington State and UNLV. They've beaten Atlantic-10 favorite Dayton.

Most of us thought Martin got the job just so Beasley would come to K-State. It was a short-sighted decision, we said. Instead, Beasley is long gone and the Cats have their highest ranking since 1988. Martin is building a program.

Martin and his staff have built the kind of team that most every coach in the country would love to have, and the kind of team that most every fan in the country would love to cheer for -- sort of like Mizzou last year.

Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente lead the team in scoring (and in general), two combo guards who can switch on and off the point depending on the game situation. Curtis Kelly and Jamar Samuels give the Cats strength and athleticism on the front line, complemented nicely by Dominique Sutton and others.

All that's nice, but perhaps the most encouraging part is that freshman Wally Judge has essentially been a non-factor so far.

In another world -- the world we expected -- this would be an NIT-at-best situation. Judge was a McDonald's All-American, a top 20 player nationally, and an early commit to K-State which allowed the hype to grow.

Judge was expected to be a star, at least on some nights, and instead is playing 13.9 minutes a game with 3.8 points. He's started the last three games, but still hasn't played as much as some of the reserves coming in for him and here is where we might be seeing just how wrong so many of us were about Frank Martin.

Judge isn't playing more, it seems, because he's not giving the sort of consistent effort and defense that Martin demands. This is much different than the Martin we expected, the coach who would've ignored the deficiencies of his most talented players, or maybe panicked, but either way would be incapable of leading a 9-1 team through a difficult schedule without its hotshot, future pro freshman doing much.

The message, now, is clear. Judge can either do what Martin is expecting, or the Wildcats can continue to play well without him. Martin holds all the cards, all the credibility.

This is a long way from the charicature many of us saw, of a guy who put Beasley in the game and then screamed from the sidelines while his players called him "Frank."

Martin's reputation now is of a coach whose team plays as hard as anybody in the conference. His situation now is leading a top 20 team that he put together.

Good for him, for making it happen. And good for us, for being able to watch.

Submitted by Sam Mellinger on December 17, 2009 - 9:50am.

Frank earned that. But let's not step on our d*cks just yet.

Alabama in Mobile tonight.

pleasantly surprised the game's in Mobile....what an odd deal...

We will play Alabama in either Wichita or Kansas City for the return trip.

I think I get the game tonight. TWC channel 20?

Wichita? That game better be in KC.

it's interesting though, we are the second game of a doubleheader. The first game being South Alabama vs. UAB. The game is being played in USA's house, with both games on the same ticket, so probably not many true Alabama fans there...

Games being hosted by the GMAC Bowl...

Wichita would be a good draw with the new arena built.

Really? I wasn't aware Wichita was building an arena. Thought they'd play it in the Kansas Coliseum.

Kansascity.com show the game on channel 20 for TW scripts. But looking on theiur website, it doesn't list the game. *sigh*.


It better be on here.

how good is Bama hoops this year?

I'm kinda expecting a strong KSU win

Line is KSU -3

7-3. Coached by Anthony Grant. Former AC at UFla. under Donovan. Was elevated to Ass. HC the year they won the first of two straight NCAA titles. Grant and Martin worked in the same AAU and High School in Miami.

Left for VCU and was very successful 76-25 over all and 45-9 in conference. (Colonial Athletic Conference). B to B sweet 16's before moving to UAla.

He was one of the names that a great deal of our very phogtards were insisting KSU hire because after Huggins left Martin was so unethical. LMAO

I may have to visit the archives.

Cool. Thanks Saully.

Keep the intensity up and the Cats should have the talent to win this.

It's on Cox 98 in Wichita.

Game on!

http://www.purerock.com/

For a radio feed.

Impressive start. 7-0 KSU

Video feed frozen, lol.

I can hear Stan Weber and Ben Boyle - which is almost better than nothing.

14-6 KSU at the break.

Under 16:00 TO (15:10)

14-6 KSU

The Judge for the and 1.

15-6

Merriweather in and gets a foul in the 1st 4 seconds.

JAM SLAM

Holy F we're on fire 20-6

Pullen with 9 already! 20-6 KSU

Just like that, 2 straight turnovers and Bama is back in it

Cats commit two quicj TO's and pay. 6-0 Bama run. 20-11

Looking pretty ugly now.

Steal and assist 22-12

Lew w/ a brick LMAO

22-12 10;45

22-12 10:45 left.

Alabama not getting much done on the inside at all.

I'll be incredibly happy when him & Merriweather are gone... I hope neither sees any important time come conference play.

Glad to see that Wally seems to be improving, though.

Pullen drills another trey, gets a steal and layup and the Cats force a BAMA time out. 27-12

Pullen looking great.

One more trey and Jake will have 1k points.

Cats show zone trap

JAMSAM CLANKED a three and then hustled down and THREW a BAMA shot into the stands

Offense getting lazy...

Under 8 27-16.

Quite a wild scramble there with JAMSAM getting hacked.

The guys - literally - stop moving. I used toblamne it on the guards.

HAs CK scored yet? He's been invisible.

C'mon Jamar. 1-2 28-16

Seems like we're taking 3s just to take them, even if they're not open. Glad to see that we worked it inside on that last posession before the break.

Love the defense, though.

JFC, that was great D. And he threw an elbow. If I were a phogtardian, I'd send that clip to the league office.

Jake for 1k

1000 points!

Pullen going for a big number tonight.

DOM with the tip

BAMA goes zone, and the CATS turn it over and commit a foul

Grudz in the game. CK back.

Nice break but Dom traveled before the slam.

Finally! CK gets involved after grabbing an O rebound. Goes to the line after the under 4.

Anybody watching the Saints/Cowboys game? I lost the feed on my phone. Score?

CK was smooth on those two FT's. 35-20

34-20 KSU

Jacob Pullen 20, Alabama 20

Pullen w/ a trey Cats up 40-20

You're a good man. But do you know the score of the football game?

Sad part is this could be so big of lead in the second half that Jake won't get a chance to chase Beasley's record.

Looks like ESPN says it's 14-3 Cowboy's

Cowboys up 14-3 at the half.

BAMA sits in a zone down 18.

Thanks for the update Gents.

What record?

Well, that was awful.

Damn it! Steal off a trap and after 4 looks they get it at the buzzer. Frank's going to be pissed about that.

He's shooting well enough to go after the single game scoring record. And I should have included DC as well.

Talking about the last play where they scored or are you being sarcastic about the 1st half? Cause on the last play, they had to put up like 7 shots to get one to fall, I didn't think it was a bad defensive effort. Although I'm a little pissed that they had the chance to begin with...

And Cowboys up 17-3 now at the half.

The exact opposite of what happened last Saturday at the half. UNLV got the steal, misplayed the ball and the Cats got an easy bucket to end the half.

I believe that is a Big XII record (44 points), not a ksu record. Could be mistaken thou.

Saul's right. It was awful. You had to expect they would extend the trap and the only thing you can't do in that situation is give the ball away. Move the ball before the trap arrives.

Shocks up 7 with 3 minutes to go on Texas Tech.